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When David accidentally bids $2,000 instead of $20 on a "historic half hot dog" online with his mother's credit card, he knows he's dead meat. In a panic, he formulates a plan: enter competitive eating contests and use his winnings to pay his mother back, ideally before she finds out about the charge. Indulging in his particular talent distracts him from life at home; eating astoundingly large quantities of food in impossibly short time spans is obviously not quite the success his older sister, Bridgette, has achieved in college, nor is it the small triumphs of his autistic younger brother, Mal, but David takes pride in it nonetheless. He also takes pride in caring for Mal, even if the responsibility chafes on occasion, and makes some headway with Mal's increased socialization--Mal travels further with fewer meltdowns when he is wearing sunglasses, for instance, and David also uncovers a pattern to the characteristics that make food appealing to his brother. Despite the often-nauseating drama around the eating contests, the first-person narrative explores the two brothers' relationship in a nuanced way (except for the main character's occasional use of ableist language: "With the enormous glasses and his headphones and his hoodie, [Mal] looks like a normal kid pretending to be a rap star") as David becomes more attuned to Mal's perspective and ways of communicating. anastasia m. collins